Starting off with my Ebay purchases for the month…..it was a good month to say the least! I grabbed a few albums that were on my wish list and some that weren’t necessarily on there but kicking around in my head. First thing was to kill off the gaping hole in my Y&T collection by acquiring the debut album on CD. $21.50 is not a bad price at all considering I’ve seen it go for $50 – $75+ over the years. Keeping with the same seller, I ended up scoring the 2nd and 3rd Mother’s Army (featuring Joe Lynn Turner) releases and the rare Decline of Western Civilization Pt.2 soundtrack for $4 each…..complete steals! I was reading an old Metal fanzine and saw the ad for the Livesay album, I grabbed an old, hand written wish list that was years old and there it was. A little research showed this album has gone for $25+ so I scored it for what a regular CD SHOULD go for at $13. The two Glory Bell’s band LPs have been on my list for a while so I picked them up from a very reputable seller I’ve dealt with before. Near Mint overall on both records so I didn’t mind paying $15 each. The New England, Wishing Well and Cage discs were all found by doing research on other releases and I scored them for great prices.

That leaves the two most expensive CDs I purchased: Robin Zander and Parlor Trixx. I’ll go with Parlor Trixx first…..back in 2002, I read a few great reviews about this independent release and I put it on my list but with no major priority. Of course it was a limited release, the band eventually disbanded and there were no copies to be had. I’ve been watching this CD since 2002 on Ebay and I’ve watched it go for $100+ at times! This auction started at $25 and I went as high as $50 but someone had to outbid me with 12 hours to go! I ended up sniping this album in the last few seconds at $67 based on wanting it and thinking that 13 years on a want list is long enough.

I’ve been on a MAJOR Cheap Trick kick for the better part of a year so I’ve been devouring anything I can get my hands on, including solo efforts. Countryside Blvd was released online in 2011, lasted one day, and was pulled from purchase. I’m not sure why this is but an original copy is completely rare. Some copies did get sold and shipped but for some reason it was pulled after one day. I was doing my research on the album and found a copy on Ebay, contacted the seller with multiple questions and was assured this was an original release. More research, more questions to the seller, more assurances that this was an original copy. Last few minutes of the auction, I outbid someone with a high bid of $50 and scored it for $44. As soon as the CD arrived, I saw it was a bootleg! At this point, there was nothing I could do but report it to Ebay and contact the seller. $44 wiser but, on the bright side, I have the music and the sound quality is excellent.

Big purchases on only two visits to the record store. The first visit was on a mid-month 25% off all CDs, DVDs & Blu-Rays sale so I just had to stock up! The second visit was a routine stop at the end of the month to just check things out. The routine stop found the latest Arch Enemy album on sale and a used copy of King Diamond’s Abigail 2 that filled a hole in that collection. Just a quick stop to round out June but let’s get to that big sale in the middle of the month…..

Nothing is better than a sale and I always take advantage of them. One of the strategies I like to use is to get those higher priced releases, the box sets, the deluxe editions on these sales to save maximum dollars…..the other strategy is to pad the collection by scooping up albums I would normally pass over for more important items. On this sale I was lucky to grab some deluxe editions from Epica, Ted Nugent, Night Ranger, KISS, U.D.O and Sabaton at better prices than when they were originally on sale as new releases. The cool thing was that the Nugent and U.D.O. albums had regular priced copies and used copies so I was able to score the used copies and get 25% off the used price for maximum savings! I also scored a lot of 2014 albums and DVDs with some of those deluxe editions, as well as, from Tesla, Dio, Alice Cooper and Saxon. I obviously grabbed a lot of used releases too but let me highlight my biggest bargain and my best find on this special sale trip.

Ok, let me run this down quick: I bought the California Breed CD at the local record store, the UFO and Deep Purple albums on Ebay and Rubicon Cross through Best Buy online.

If Glenn Hughes is singing on an album then that’s an album I have to own! California Breed was Glenn’s “new” band that came from the ashes of Black Country Communion, but let’s be honest, it’s all the same thing. California Breed…..Black Country Communion…..it’s Glenn Hughes! Had to pick up the deluxe version for the bonus tracks so I got it on sale for $16 and saved $6 off regular price and that ended my record store trips for the month. I went to Ebay and did some research on many an album and I stumbled on the Headstone compilation for UFO for a wicked cheap price at around $5. Add the $2.50 shipping and it was a straight bargain! Usually, Headstone goes for $25+, especially for a complete two disc Japanese import, but I scored the awesome price because the seller misspelled “Headstone” as “Haedstone”. Stormbringer was the last album I needed to complete my collection of Mark II through the present lineups of Deep Purple (I don’t have the early albums with Rod Evans on vocals). Of course, I wanted the rare and expensive 35th Anniversary Edition. Why? Well because all of my other Purple CDs from In Rock onward are Anniversary Editions! I’ve been watching and waiting, not willing to pay $35+ for a 35th Anniversary CD and my due diligence paid off when I found an BUY IT NOW with a price of $15 plus $3 shipping…..SOLD!

My last CD this month was actually the first CD I ordered…..Rubicon Cross featuring C.J. Snare, the lead singer of Firehouse. I forget which podcast I was listening to (I’m addicted to podcasts!) and they were going on and on about Rubicon Cross but they didn’t play any songs. I wrote down the band’s name and that was it. Then another podcast I listen to mentioned the band and that you could get the deluxe edition from Best Buy.com for $9 so I figured I’d just get the album because it’s such a good price and I like Firehouse. I get online, order the album, try to pick it up in-store…..nothing. In order to pick up in-store, I’d have to travel to a Best Buy almost an hour away! Forget that! So I decide on just getting it mailed to the house, pay the $2.75 shipping and it’s done. A week goes by…..nothing. Two weeks…..nothing. Three weeks…..now I’m mad! I get on the phone with Best Buy and they tell me it shipped but there’s no confirmation of delivery and it should have arrived in a week the latest. So they look up every store in my area and they find one newly stocked copy in a store 15 minutes from home. They reserve it and I have 48 hours to pick it up. No problem, I leave immeadiately! I get to the store and they can’t find it. So I do what any other customer would do, I take the store clerk by the hand, go to the “R” section of the small Music area and pull the CD off the shelf. They never pulled it off the floor even though they said they did and made me wait close to 20 minutes while they “checked the backroom”. Needless to say, last time I order from Best Buy but I got the CD and the adventure for May is over…..

When there’s a 25% off sale at the record store, you make the trip. Honestly, there wasn’t much of a selection but I managed to grab a couple newer releases on sale. I’d been waiting on the Devin Townsend release because I missed the sale price when it was first released and it was a $30 regular price! With the 25% off, a done deal. Same with the new Andi Deris record, I waited because the regular price in store was $17 and Amazon was no better but $12.75 is reasonable. My find of the day was a Japanese import, and first pressing, Angels Fall First from Nightwish. Only $12 but $9 with the sale, was a steal at $12.

Another quick trip to the record store for a couple new releases, this time to the closer North Attleboro Newbury Comics for the new Black Label Society and former Nightwish singer Anette Olzen’s first solo release. Both albums were on sale so I picked up the limited edition of the BLS album so I could get the 2 extra songs for $14 (saving $6) and the Olzen solo record for $13 (saving $5).

Gotta have a little Ebay action going on while you hit all the record stores, even if it’s just for a price comparison. The first four albums were all from the same seller on two separate auctions for brand new CDs and with free shipping each time. I estimate that I saved $7.65 on the Crystal Viper & Silent Force discs and $6.25 on the Nightwish & McAuley Schenker Group discs compared to record store prices. An added bonus was that the MSG disc was a Japanese import and that adds at least $10 more usually! My last winning auction was for an original pressing of Triumph’s Thunder Seven from 1985. I could have gotten the recent remaster of the record but I heard it sounds different so I’m trying to find all the Triumph CDs as original pressings for the original mixes. If I can’t find them all on CD, I’ll go for the vinyl.

Nothing like Record Store Day 2014 to get a Buy 2 Get 1 Free sale so I can stock up! I put a $100 limit on myself but I went just a bit over ($113) because I found more than a few bargains. My routine on this sale is to buy up all those higher priced sets and/or imports that I passed up earlier or missed the sale price on, that way I can save the maximum dollars. Most of these CDs were regular price but I managed to save $51 in free CDs. I had to get my wife a DVD set of the E.R. television show because it was a sweet price (free), and she really wants all the seasons, so it turned out to be a good sale for all.

Don’t ask me how I had a $100 Amazon gift card this late in the year but I did. I spent that easily to the tune of $87 worth of CDs & Blu-Rays (plus shipping charges) getting a few things off my want list.

Nothing Can Keep Me From You (from Detroit Rock City soundtrack & The Box Set)

Detroit Rock City (Live) (from Alive IV – Symphony)

Deuce (Live 2004) (previously unreleased)

Firehouse (Live) (from Alive – The Millenium Concert)

Modern Day Delilah

Cold Gin (Live 2009) (previously unreleased)

Crazy Crazy Nights (Live 2010) (previously unreleased)

Hell Or Hallelujah

Another year, another KISS compilation. Let’s not blame the band on this one, Universal Music owns the band’s catalog and can keep pumping them out. So what’s different here this time around? Well, KISS is celebrating their 40th anniversary and this two disc set is the latest and greatest package of the “Hottest Band In The World”. There’s a few things that might make this compilation worth it for both the diehards and the casual KISS fan.

Starting with the booklet…..it’s a smooth high glossy booklet that includes pictures of all eras of the KISS lineup through the last tour, album artwork, iconic photos and it even includes a couple of pictures of Vinnie Vincent and Mark St. John in the band. For me, a booklet is a booklet when it comes to a KISS compilation. After being a fan for 37 years, I know the songs, I know the lyrics, I know the KISStory so I don’t really pay much attention except for the initial reading. The high quality glossy pages are great and I wish more booklets were like this and I also like the fact that all lineups and albums were pictured. Basically, it’s for the casual fan to get a quick 18 page visual history of the last 40 years.

The tracklisting is pretty good with a few surprises mixed in. 40 songs for 40 years with each album represented by at least one song, including all the live albums, the Double Platinum greatest hits, the solo albums, the Killers album and even The Box Set. While some fans will debate the tracklisting, it’s a really good representation of the band’s overall catalog. You’ve got the big hits with ‘Beth’, ‘Rock And Roll All Nite’, ‘Shout It Out Loud’ and ‘I Was Made For Lovin’ You’ from the classic makeup era but you also get a single track from each solo album, ‘Shandi’ from Unmasked, ‘A World Without Heroes’ from The Elder and ‘I Love It Loud’ from Creatures Of The Night. The biggest surprise for me was the inclusion of ‘Down On Your Knees’ from Killers because I didn’t think that the album would be represented seeing that it was only released everywhere but North America. I might have replaced the proper single from the Paul Stanley solo album, ‘Hold Me, Touch Me’, with ‘Move On’, the song they played on the 1979 tour but that’s just personal preference. ‘Lick It Up’ and ‘Heaven’s On Fire’ start the non-makeup era and end the first CD. There are two demos on this first disc: ‘God Of Thunder’ and ‘Reputation’. The ‘God Of Thunder’ demo was previously released on the KISS Box Set and has Paul Stanley singing vocals while ‘Reputation’ is a Gene Simmons demo that is previously unreleased. For the casual fan, maybe the album version of ‘God Of Thunder’ would be better, the diehards that bought the box set already have it. ‘Reputation’ is a cool oddity but I believe other versions of this demo have circulated through trading circles, a nice inclusion for those people who don’t collect KISS demos.

The second CD starts off with the big hits from the mid to late ’80s (‘Tears Are Falling’, ‘Reason To Live’, ‘Forever’) and moves into the ’90s with ‘God Gave Rock ‘N’ Roll To You II’ and ‘Unholy’. Let me stop right there and say that Revenge was a great album and that it should be represented by the studio version of ‘Unholy’ rather than this live version from Alive III. I also can’t stand ‘God Gave Rock ‘N’ Roll…’ but it was a single and…. The Reunion era is represented with ‘Psycho Circus’ from the reunion album of the same name and we get the ‘Jungle’ single from the shelved Carnival Of Souls album that was released in the middle of the Reunion but featured the last non-makeup lineup…..more KISStory there than I want to type! The rest of the CD consists of live tracks, both of the latest singles from the newer albums (‘Modern Day Delilah’ and ‘Hell Or Hallelujah’) from Sonic Boom and Monster. Of the live tracks, ‘Deuce’, ‘Cold Gin’ and ‘Crazy Crazy Nights’ are all previously unreleased and feature the bands current lineup of Gene, Paul, Eric Singer and Tommy Thayer from the tours in 2004, 2009 and 2010 respectively. What surprised me here on Disc 2 is the major classics that were represented as live versions and the inclusion of the of both songs from Sonic Boom and Monster, especially ‘Modern Day Delilah’ because Sonic Boom was a Wal-Mart only release and Universal doesn’t own the rights to it so they had to pay for it’s use. I’m allowing myself one more rant…..there is no reason to have ‘Nothing Can Keep Me From You’ on this compilation. I don’t consider it a KISS song, even though technically it is, because only Paul Stanley performs on it and it was a collaboration with songwriter Dianne Warren to try and get a hit with a ballad like Aerosmith did with ‘I Don’t Want To Miss A Thing’ the previous year. It was a throwaway as the credits rolled for the Detroit Rock City movie and the song never charted. Personally, it’s the worst song in the KISS catalog. Rant over…..

Bottom Line:
I’m a diehard KISS fan with 37 years of service so I buy new releases by the band when they come out but I’m very picky when it comes to these compilations/greatest hits packages. I like this one though and I definitely dropped my $15 at the record store for my copy! The book is great because it shows some care and effort. I haven’t analyzed it for errors but it’s a nice montage of KISStory. 40 songs for 40 years on two CDs, that’s value for $15 and you get a pretty good overview of the band’s career. There’s a few misses in my opinion as far as the tracklist but the powers that be kept it to the hits/singles with a few curveballs thrown in. This was a must buy for me because of the four unreleased songs, especially the live tracks. Ask most KISS diehards and they probably bought this too. Definitely one of the better releases in a long line of KISS hits packages. Here’s to another 40 years!

When Obsession, the debut album from Linda & The Punch, crossed my desk I wasn’t really sure what to make of it. I read the press release and it described Linda’s singing as a cross between current Pop superstar Pink and Rock icon Pat Benetar…..reading that made me unsure if this hardened Metal heart would enjoy that type of combination. Needless to say, I was pleasantly surprised.

Just a quick rundown of some of the major players here: Linda is a fresh faced 21 year old that has a serious voice, the kind of Rock singing that you wished was on today’s radio, she is definitely the focal point. The rest of the band, The Punch, provide a solid musical foundation that blends early ’80s Rock, Pop, Melodic Rock and a slight Punk edge. I definitely hear that early ’80s Rock sound from having grown up listening to the radio back then so I can understand the Pat Benetar comparison. The producer here is Michael Voss, who you can hear on Michael Schenker’s Temple Of Rock album, and he also adds in his writing skills along with ex-Scorpions drummer Herman Rarebell, Tommy Denander, and the talents of songwriters Jeff Franzel and Steve McEwan. That’s a pretty solid team.

As I mentioned, this is straight up melodic Hard Rock with a Power Pop and Punk feel to it. I can hear contemporaries like the Hard Rock band Halestorm, Pink, Kelly Clarkson and some of the other Pop princesses out there but Linda has a Rock ‘n’ Roll grit and power to her voice that channels Pat Benatar or even Chrissie Hynde from The Pretenders. The band plays a great contemporary style of guitar driven Rock and the melodies and grooves just stay stuck in your head! The opening track ‘What A Shame’ has that Pop-Punk sound to it with an infectious chorus that reminds me of a musically superior alternative to The Donnas crossed with Pink. My favorite tracks are the melodic ‘Welcome To London’ and ‘Looking Out For Number One’, two songs that had that instant sing-a-long quality to them and I really haven’t been able to stop repeating those songs on my iPod. I just like that melodic ’80s Rock sound both tracks have but they are complete rockers. I also really like the ballad ‘Wake Up Dreaming Of You’, a song that could easily be a hit on any Billboard chart, a real showcase for Linda’s vocals. I’m not really sure I like the addition of a cover song at the end, especially Patti Smith’s ‘Because The Night’, a song that everyone seems to do. Everytime I hear the original song, the Natalie Merchant version, this version, any version…..all I think about is Keel doing a cover, and a video, for this track. At least the song was left to the end so it can be skipped but I will say that the band does a slower powerful version that’s not too bad.

Bottom Line:
Linda & The Punch are definitely a new band that will be on the rise. Out of the ten original songs on the album, I really like eight of them and would pull them up in my daily music playlist for months to come. Strong band musically, solid beautiful vocals and catchy well written songs…..what’s not to like? This album is definitely one of the biggest surprises of 2014 for me!

Favorite Songs:
‘Welcome To London’, ‘Looking Out For Number One’, ‘What A Shame’, ‘Wake Up Dreaming Of You’, ‘Nothing Of Anything’

March was a slow month for record store trips, I only made two and I only went because I was in the immeadiate area. Call me old, call me lazy but I don’t leave the house unless I really have to in the winter. March was still nice and freezing here in Rhode Island and I hate the cold so I spent most my time watching online prices and waiting. I had to run some errands so I ended up being so close to the record store both times that I just went in. The first trip netted me the new House Of Lords, Battle Beast and KXM. The prices were just about the same as Amazon, they were all at sale prices so I saved $12 total. The second trip was a week later and I scored a used copy of GWAR’s latest album, Battle Maximus, from last year and the new albums from Gus G. and Savage Messiah. Again, the Gus G. and Savage Messiah albums were on sale and the prices were comparable to Amazon so I saved a total of $9 off regular price. The GWAR album was a bargain at $10 used because I’ve seen it as high as $17 regular price and $12 used.

Ebay was an expensive outlet for my CD addiction this month, no serious savings here! First up was the Phil Lewis (L.A. Guns) project, Filthy Lucre. I remember seeing the album, Popsmear, advertised in one of the old Metal zines I used to buy and I read something online about the album real quick…..that’s all it took, I needed it. Two copies were on Ebay, I ended up high bidding this CD at $25 and won it for $20 + $3 shipping. The next five CDs were all bought from the same seller, all were low starting bids and four were High Vaultage reissues that I have been collecting since 1998. The two Cutty Sark albums I got into bidding wars for so I paid top dollar. Die Tonight was a bargain at $22 (price includes shipping) because I’ve seen the same CD copy for at least three years from another seller listed at $69.99 and, for some strange reason, it never shows up on Ebay. You can buy it on vinyl but never the High Vaultage reissue. Regeneration was Cutty Sark’s last album from 1998 and I never see that around so I wanted it and paid and expensive $31 total. The two Overdrive CDs and the Railway disc were all High Vaultage reissues and I got them for decent prices with the shipping, nothing like the Cutty Sark discs!

When it’s all said and done, I bought 6 CDs at the record store and 6 CDs on Ebay…..but I only spent $71 at the store and a high $114 on Ebay!

The first hunt in February took me to the Newbury Comics in Norwood, MA…..the only trip to the record store the entire month! I had a few new releases that I needed to purchase and a $100 budget to use, that includes sales tax. First three albums on the list were the new Primal Fear, Red Dragon Cartel and Def Leppard. I was able to get the new Primal Fear on sale $3 less than regular price and the Red Dragon Cartell as well for $4 off sale price…..not bad deals but the deal was the deluxe edition of Slang. I expected a 2CD set to be close to $20 and, with all the deluxe editions of albums coming out, I expected it to be as high as $30 like those pricey Thin Lizzy deluxe editions I’ve been eyeballing. Regular price was only $14! That’s a steal for 30 tracks (1 bonus disc). Keeping an eye on my list, I found two copies of Mickey Thomas’ Starship lastest record, Loveless Fascination, for $9 and $15 new and sealed…..guess wich one I bought? I’ve always had a soft spot for Starship because I like Thomas’ vocals so I snagged the album and paired it with the deluxe version of the new Behemoth record, The Satanist. Talk about two opposite sides of the spectrum! I saved $5 off regular price for the Behemoth so I still had some money to play with and I replaced two old cassettes picking up the classics Exodus – Bonded By Blood and Prong - Cleansing, topping it off with GWAR’s Carnival Of Chaos to fill a hole in the GWAR collection.

While I was shopping at Newbury Comics, I found a couple albums on my wish list but I had to compare prices. Back in the early 90s, I dreamed of having something in my hand that had my want lists, collection and availability…..we call that the smart phone. With my phone out, I had my new release list for 2012, 2013 & 2014 and I saw both Chastain and Adrenaline Mob listed and in stock at the store. Unfortunately, I’m not paying regular price so I opened the Amazon app, scanned each bar code and found both albums much cheaper (saving $5 each) so they went in the cart. When I got out of the store and into the car, I remembered the new project with Dave Ellefson (Megadeth) and Frank Bello (Anthrax) called Altitudes & Attitude. It’s only a 3 song E.P. but it was also only $5 so that got thrown in the cart. I was going to checkout but I went to my Amazon Music wish list and one of the first CDs I added way back when was the Ian Gillan/Tony Iommi Who Cares project that I never bought when it first came out. I bought the single but not the full album and it’s been an expensive $20+ price tag for the CD but here it was with a price reduction of 25% off since I added it…..into the cart! So I spent $42 on top of the $100 in the record store.

Ebay has been a go to destination for me since October 1999 and, close to 15 years later, I still find bargains and rare CDs. Nothing is better than finding a CD you want and searching the seller’s other items only to find MORE CDs you want/need. I recently found one such seller who had been kind enough to list his/her collection on Ebay in portions…..lots of CDs I don’t own too! The Jack Blades solo album, the 7th Heaven, Blackberry Smoke, Persian Risk and Tysondog CDs all came from the one seller and it was all because I was searching for the High Vaultage reissue on CD of Persian Risk’s Rise Up. Once I found that at a decent price, I checked the other items and found the rest. I’m not happy about paying so much for the Tysondog anthology but it is the first two albums the band released and the E.P. they had from 1984 through 1986. I had put a high bid of $20 in and I was the only bidder with 10 seconds to go and someone who was watching it went just under $20. I thought I already owned Kix – Midnight Dynamite but I was wrong and you wouldn’t believe how much this CD goes for on Ebay! Upwards for $20+! I got a bargain for $10, same with the Axxis CD for $9 brand new and that replaced one of the first promotional downloads I ever received doing this site. Another $10 went to the latest Bret Michaels solo CD so I could hear just how bad it is…..I know I shouldn’t have bought it but I’ve been dying to hear it because everyone says it’s a train wreck. The two big purchases was the Ted Poley – Greatest Hits Vol. 2 and the limited edition version of the last ReVamp album, Wild Card. Wild Card is an import so normal channels had the price $30+, I’m a big fan of Floor Jansen so I wanted to hear this project. The Ted Poley CD came straight from Ted himself on Ebay and autographed to me personally.

I’ve been a big Johnny Lima supporter after I heard, and then immeadiately bought, his 2009 release Livin’ Out Loud. That was one of the best albums of 2009 and I still spin it today so I always have an eye on Johnny’s website. Sure enough, I checked the website and there was the announcement for the new album, My Revolution, but only as a limited edition CD release and regular download. I’m a physical media freak so I had to have the actual CD so I sent Johnny my $23 and he sent the CD same day! Hit the link above and check Johnny Lima out.

One of the things I love most about running this website for the last 8 years is that I get to discover new bands and new music on a daily basis. Sometimes an album crosses my desk and it completely takes hold of me and captures my complete attention…..Into The Night from Sweden’s Lover Under Cover is one of those albums. Lover Under Cover is a name I’ve heard before but never really investigated. The band is a Swedish melodic rock “supergroup” of sorts with all the members being in well known bands like Coldspell, Last Autumn’s Dream, Salute and more but the music put to record is not a bunch of guns for hire playing their respective parts but an actual band rocking it hard and playing flawlessly.

Opening track ‘A Fight’ kicks the album off in high gear with a quick keyboard intro that rolls straight into some blazing guitar work. Mikael Erlandsson’s voice immeadiately commands your attention and he kind of reminds me a bit of Tony Harnell (TNT/Westworld), very melodic sounding and forceful when needed. ‘A Fight’ is infectious with it’s big harmonies on the chorus and I found myself singing along right away. ‘Into The Shadows’ continues the initial assault with another infectious chorus and plenty of harmonies, the song takes me right back to the ’80s when I was growing up when Rock music was an art of perfectly blended musicianship. And the melodic assault doesn’t stop because ‘Miracle’ is high energy powerhouse that reminds me of a combination of Westworld, Treat and Bon Jovi and it’s definitely my favorite song on the record. Martin Kronlund has some great solos on this track but the main riff, combined with the keyboards complimenting, really drives the song.

Time to slow it down a little with the album’s first ballad, ‘Toy Soldiers’. Now I’m listening to the album in the car when I first heard this song and I knew most of the words…..what? Turns out this is a cover of ‘Toy Soldiers’ by Martika from 1988 and, as a high school teenager glued to MTV back then, I remember that song well. Actually, my wife loves the Martika song. So I’m thrown off a bit by the Martika cover but it’s done really well so I can’t really fault the band for recording it. I’m not a fan of cover songs on studio albums but this is a really good one. ‘Crushing Stones’ goes back to the solid melodic rock of the first three songs and I especially like the keyboard line that holds it all together but it all comes down to the guitar for me and I’m really enjoying another great performance that brings a bit of an edge to the track. ‘Life Is Easy’ is a Bon Jovi sounding song but absolutely better than anything Bon Jovi has released in a decade (Jon take notice!). It’s just another great tune, an album favorite for me, another catchy song that immeadiately grabs you but it’s a bit more mellow, more mid-tempo, and I like the way the band has mixed it up. ‘Playboy No. 7′ is another uptempo Hard Rock song and it’s good but it sounds a little repetitive of what’s played before it.

A second song with a bit of a crunchy edge is ‘The Game Is On’ and ‘Fantasy Man’ follows ‘Life Is Easy’ a little as far as that easy melodic tempo goes. Both are really great songs but ‘Fantasy Man’ joins ‘Miracle’ and ‘Life Is Easy’ as my stand out tracks. Add ‘Closer To The Truth’ to that list as well because that’s another effortless melodic rocker that has me singing along and doing my air-drums. This is another example of an great old school ’80s sounding song done perfectly. Ending the record is a cool mid-tempo/ballad style track, ‘No Place Like Home’, that Jon Bon Jovi wishes he could write (steal!) and, even though it ends Into The Night on a softer note, it’s a great song.

Bottom Line:
If your a fan of good melodic Hard Rock with a lot of ’80s influences, great vocals, great guitars and sing-a-long lyrics, then Into The Night is definitely for you. The entire sound of the album is excellent, great production by Martin Kronlund, and it sounds like what I remember from my younger days…..an album from a bygone era maybe? This is my first proper album review for 2014 but I’ve listened to a lot of albums so far this year and Lover Under Cover has captured my listening time more with this new album than other new albums I’ve acquired so far. It’s really that good and, like I mentioned earlier, I love it when an album crosses my desk and surprises me by hooking me in immeadiately. I highly recommend people picking this album up.

I started off the year with a major bang by scoring a lot of older releases and many 2013 releases that I received digital promos for from the labels. One of my resolutions for 2014 was to acquire more older catalog releases…..albums that have been missing from my collection for a long time.

My first purchase was from PlanetHelix.com, the official website of Brian Vollmer and Helix. The had a holiday bundle that included the Metal On Ice album, the Helix holiday CD and a bonus 7 inch vinyl single of the new Helix holiday song for a cool $35. I bought the deluxe package with the Helix t-shirt and baseball cap for $75.

Ebay was awesome for great buys early this year! I scored original Capitol Records pressing of the three W.A.S.P. albums that are missing from my collection. I’ve always had the entire W.A.S.P. discography be it on cassette back in the ’80s, the original pressing CDs and then the reissues with bonus tracks in the late ’90s. I sold my original pressings of all the W.A.S.P. albums about ten years ago when my wife and I were strapped for cash when our second daughter was born, and I sold them for decent bucks, but I’ve regretted it ever since. It’s been an on again/off again search for these original pressings but I finally decided to acquire them all once I found a seller that had them all up at once. Same thing happened with the Sammy Hagar, King Kobra, Coney Hatch and Little River Band CDs, these were all one lot at a great price from a reputable seller. I had all the digital promos but I wanted the first three albums in my collection, would have passed on the Little River Band if it was alone but it was a great price for the 4 CD lot. The other CDs I grabbed of Ebay were ones I stumbled on when I was searching some of my favorite sellers but my favorites were the two Great White vinyls I won for $5.50 each…..both original pressing in near mint condition.

I had to kill an Amazon gift card that I received for a Xmas present so I picked up some 2013 releases: Kill Devil Hill, Tyr and Benedictum. All were cheaper than actually buying them from the record store and, to round out my gift card, I added the KISS – Millenium Collection 3 compilation for completist purposes.

I did actually go to the record store three times to start the year! I stopped by the North Attleboro, MA Newbury Comics to pick up the new Michael Schenker Group album and I dropped $24 on the limited edition digibook with the bonus track featuring Don Dokken on vocals. I know that’s a lot of money but Michael Schenker is one of those artists that I will spend the extra money on. Luckily, I caught the sale because regular price on that bad boy was $30! While I was in store I added the new Scorpions MTV Unplugged CD/DVD and the new Iced Earth to the MSG album, both were on sale and I saved $5 and $8 respectively. The Scorpions release was cheaper on sale than on Amazon and it’s the CD/DVD version, same with the new Iced Earth which was also a CD/DVD combo.

My second trip out to the stores was to catch a Buy 2 Get 1 Free sale on all CDs. I made it up to the the big Newbury Comics in Norwood, MA (nice vinyl section there!) and scored mostly 2013 releases that I never bothered to pick up. I’ve been a Nashville Pussy fan since their first record so I needed Up The Dosage and I saved $3 buying the deluxe edition (2 bonus tracks) for $16 on sale. I paired it with Michael Monroe’s latest (also on sale for $14, saving $3) to get the Lita Ford live album free (also on sale for $14, regular $17). I paired the latest Dream Theater (also on sale for $14 from $17) with a used copy of the Phil Anselmo CD ($10 used instead of $16 regular) to get the latest Trouble album free $10 used instead of $16 regular). My last bundle was a few older releases that were all $4 used: Circle II Circle + Andersen/Laine/Readman = Sinner for free.

On the way home from Norwood, I hit the North Attleboro store to buy the latest Royal Hunt – A Life To Die For for a high priced $18 regular price, paired with a used $10 copy of the latest Helker album to get Firewind’s Few Against Many free. I already bought the Firewind album once and I uploaded it into my iTunes but I realized that the used copy I bought mid-year in a record store was NOT the jewel case version I thought it was. Upon further review, it was a ripped in half digipak version stuffed into a jewel case and priced as used. Needless to say, that won’t do for my collection, no damaged CDs allowed! When I found this copy used for $8, it was a an easy buy with Royal Hunt and Helker.

I know it’s late but here’s the updates for November & December 2013 and the totals for the year…..

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November

Aeon Zen – Self Portrait E.P. (2013) – $12

I only bought one CD in November…..ONE CD! That itself is amazing! Seriously though, getting close to the holidays and it’s better to save money. I picked up this E.P. from Aeon Zen from their website because I wanted the actual CD and not the download, seeing that the CD was limited to 100 copies, I bought it immeadiately.

Let’s start December at Newbury Comics in Warwick. There was a sweet sale (Buy 2 Get 1 Free) on CDs so I decided to spend a few bucks. I didn’t know the Alestorm album was out so I dropped the $15 sale price (saved $5 off regular price) and paired it with the new Stryper studio album on sale for $14 (saved $4) to get the new Saxon unplugged album for free (saved $12). The Saxon CD was on sale for $12 for the regular edition ($16 regular price) but there was also the limited edition with the bonus CD of re-recorded classics. Turns out this bonus disc is Heavy Metal Thunder re-recorded compilation from 2002 so I didn’t need another version of that. I forget the price on the 2 disc set but I think it was around $20 on sale, maybe $24 regular price. Keeping this trip under $50 was a goal so I grabbed three used CDs: the new Skeltonwitch for $10 (saved $6), the new Newsted for another $10 (saved $5) and the new Ghost B.C. disc for free (saved $8). The Ghost B.C. album was listed as used but it was sealed and brand new. This whole trip saved me $40.

The second trip was actually on the same day. I was Xmas shopping so I decided to grab the new Boston album at Best Buy for the exclusive bonus track but I couldn’t find the new Black Oak Arkansas album. Pulled out the phone, added the CD to the Amazon Xmas wish list and, when I got home, I placed the order with other Xmas gifts. Very easy!

Made a second trip to Newbury Comics in Warwick, RI while Xmas shopping a few days later. I bought what I needed for presents and decided I needed a couple presents! I bought the new Epica – Retrospect box set on sale for $36 (saved $10 on the 3CD/2DVD set) and I added the new Nightwish live album (2CD/2DVD) for $25 (saved $5).

The last trip of the year went to the same record store after the holiday. I won $50 on a scratch ticket so I spent it on CDs. I didn’t really see much aside from the new Ayreon and Rhapsody of Fire releases (saving a total of $8 on both) and 4 cheap used CDs that I didn’t own. I ended up spending an extra $2 over the lottery winnings so it was a solid trip.

Final 2013 Totals

Total (Nov & Dec) = $196

Total (year) = $2230.84

Average Price (per item) = $11.93

Total CDs (year) = 169

Total DVDs & BluRays (year) = 5

Total LPs (year) = 6

Total Box Sets (year) = 7

Just a quick analysis…..

Compared to 2012, I bought 46 less items this year but I spent about $427 more. A lot of that money goes to a few higher priced Ebay purchases and some new releases that were CD/DVD combo packs. I bought 58 fewer CDs and 1 less DVD/Blu-Ray but I did pick up 7 box sets and 6 vinyl LPs so the collection is getting more diverse. Maybe I will add some cassettes in 2014! I’m not sure what 2014 will be for CD hunting but I’m hoping that I find more gems, fill a lot of holes in my collection, acquire more and spend less. I say that every year but I’m really going to concentrate on obvious and glaring holes in the collection that are more mainstream and/or popular. I still like the rarities but I’m going to go for more accessible releases from past years.

Well, it’s 2014 and the 8 year anniversary of this website has come and gone.

Unfortunately, the last 2 or 3 years haven’t been that exciting at Heavy Metal Addiction.com because I just haven’t felt like writing or posting. To be honest, I became very disillusioned with the whole process of trying to write reviews of EVERYTHING that crossed my desk, of EVERYTHING that was sent via email or traditional mail and of EVERYTHING I experienced in the glorious world of Hard Rock & Heavy Metal. The whole idea of this website was to review albums from my ever-growing personal collection, as the website got bigger and people in the business took notice, I focused more on the deadline of getting things posted rather than the sheer enjoyment of the music. I also decided that since there were so many websites and blogs dedicated to doing the same thing I do here that there was no reason to really continue head on. While I have made a few posts over the last few years, I haven’t really had the excitement to write…..until now.

I’ve been still buying albums & DVDs (or Blu-Rays) as much as I ever have been but I haven’t been going to as many concerts…..I even missed the last two KISS tours and they’re my all time favorite band! Even though I’ve been buying new and old music, thus expanding my personal collection, I’ve been selectively listening. That all changed yesterday when I watched the latest double CD/double DVD live release from Nightwish, Showtime, Storytime. I watched the live DVD and the 2 hour documentary on the bonus disc and something clicked…..maybe it was the enthusiasm of the fans in the DVD, maybe it was the music, maybe it was the band…..who knows? All I know is that I got the itch to write.

So here I am…..8 years after starting this blog…..after a 2 year hiatus of sorts…..after countless emails and submissions…..I’m ready to re-boot!

Nothing flashy is going to happen here, I’m not changing the look of the site or adding in a bunch of extras, I’m just going to try and write with no self imposed deadlines and just give my honest opinion. I am going to try and review as many releases as I can from 2012 and 2013 while trying to keep up with 2014…..I guess that’s a deadline, or a goal, of some sort isn’t it? Either way, I expect to have more things posted here than previous years, maybe not daily as I would like, but more than I have recently.

For all those who people who emailed me regarding the 2013 Heavy Metal Addiction Awards…..they will happen, maybe sometime in late February/early March. I’m glad to see that people like that part of the site. Besides album, DVD/Blu-Ray, and concert reviews, I will still do the CD Scavenger Hunts and hopefully get back to doing Feature Weeks but the main priority is trying to be more active with writing something and being active.

OK, you see my lovely bottle of Trooper Ale, a premium British beer created by Iron Maiden, specifically Bruce Dickinson, and Robinsons Brewery, a family brewery from the Manchester town Stockport crafting brews since 1838. If you’re reading this website and are a fan of any genre of Metal, then I will assume that you know who Iron Maiden is. I will also assume that you know that Iron Maiden has a song titled ‘The Trooper’ from their 1983 album Piece Of Mind. And, of course, if you know all that, then you know that the dead soldier on the label carrying the Union Jack is Iron Maiden’s famous mascot Eddie. Basically, this beer was created because Bruce Dickinson is a beer enthusiast and the band was approached about creating their own brand of beer. It’s that simple. Bruce did his research, hired Robinsons and off they went to create beer and Metal history.

So what’s so special about Trooper Ale? Well, for me, I wanted to find out what an Iron Maiden beer would taste like and that Iron Maiden logo and Eddie label made it very easy for me to drop down $7.99 per bottle at the local liquor store. Two bottles and $16 later and I have my beer! So the only real reason I bought this was because of the band/brand. I’m not a big drinker, nor am I a beer connoisseur, but I do occasionally like to have a few brews and when I do I’m very particular about the kind I drink. I like to taste my beer, I like a dark beer with different flavors and layers…..do I sound like a connoisseur? Seriously, I like to drink mainly British beer with the exception of a few local New England beers. My regular beer right now is Hobgoblin, another specialty beer I pay a lot for, but it has a distinctive taste…..that’s what I’m hoping for with The Trooper.

Like I said, I enjoy dark beers and The Trooper has a nice dark amber color to it so we’re off to a good start. I don’t usually sit and smell my beer but each brand is unique and this one smells very rich…..malt, caramel, toffee and some citrus to it. It’s not a fruity beer but a little citrus added in to the brew makes for a unique flavor, I think it’s a bit of lemon in this beer. What do I know? I could be totally off on the smell and it could be anything but that’s what I think. The only reason I smell the beer anyway is because someone told me to do it once and it would enhance my drinking experience. It doesn’t have the same effect if you’re sniffing the Coors Light or Natty Ice but it’s cool if you try different brews. First swig…..second swig…..a decent bitter ale. Definitely has a bit of an after taste but that’s where you can taste the different flavors. Do I sound like a beer connoisseur yet? Reminds me of Hobgoblin a bit, Trooper is a very rich beer, very smooth, 4.7 % alcohol…..so it goes down easy.

All in all, in my uneducated and Heavy Metal biased opinion, I think it’s a decent beer. I like the color and taste and I’ve downed my first bottle as I wrote this. Will I make The Trooper my beer of choice? Not at the import price of $7.99 for a pint but maybe I’d grab a bottle from time to time while I was getting a sixer of Hobgoblins or something else in the British section. If I found it on tap somewhere I would definitely give it a go a couple rounds but I’ve tried it, enjoyed it and now my bottle will be washed out and put in my Metal collection for posterity. Beer #2 is saved for the football game tonight!

If you want to get more information on Trooper Ale, head to Iron Maiden Beer. If you live in the Rhode Island/southeastern Massachusetts area, you can buy Trooper Ale at Yankee Spirits in South Attleboro, MA.

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